Prawning with Mark the Magnifico

My  brother-in-law Mark is known for his super fishing skills in my family, and over time it’s grown into Superhero status.  It started very simply over 10 years ago when he used to be a fishing guide in the Queen Charlottes.  Every few months, there’d be a call to go out to the airport where we’s pick up gigantic pieces of Chinook salmon.  My parents were given a few pieces from these hauls and raved over the quality and size of the beautiful “King” salmon.  Then he moved to Tofino, where on one weekend, he treated my sister and I to a feast from the sea which included crab, oysters and big slabs of salmon cooked on the bbq.  That was followed up with a visit by my brother, who indulged in one of “his best meals ever” on Chesterman beach eating whole Dungeness crabs and just pitching the shells back into the ocean.

Over the past few years, Mark’s legend has waned a bit… He got a “real job”, moved to Victoria  with his wife and kids.  But true legends never die and Mark’s magnificent fishing skills surface for us once in a while.  Last summer, we had a successful adventure crabbing and the timing of this Spring’s to Victoria visit just happened to coincide with the opening of prawning season in BC.  How very convenient for us!

We were able to empty the traps just in time as the rain really started coming down with thunder and lightning.  The swells in the water made the ride back a bit touchy, and we were all freezing cold.  But back in the warmth of the car, we were all a bit giddy with the abundance of our haul.  It was a bit of a guessing game as to how many prawns we had caught…

What do you do with so many prawns?  Not wanting to mess with  our fishing karma, I did not plan a special feast around our catch.  So on the first night we sautéed these beauties up in  a load of butter, olive oil, shallots, garlic and finished with some parsley, s&p.

We went back the next morning to re-check the traps after a night’s soak.  Although not nearly as successful, we were able to get enough for me to bring to my parent’s place for Sunday dinner.  Showing up with a bag of fresh prawns, personally caught for them has only made the magic of Mark grow in my parent’s eyes.  To them, and me, he is Mark the Magnifico!

I want to thank Mark the Magnifico for the adventure.  But the biggest kudos go out to his wife Megan for lending him out to us!

PS:  My imagination is running wild just thinking of what I’ll do with these amazing prawns!